Hallelujah

chapter thirty-eight

"Were you up all night?" Hannah asked without taking her eyes off the small mirror in Patrick's minivan. We had decided to shower and put our makeup on in the car due to the fact that our sketchy motel room didn't have a mirror. The shower wasn't any better either.

"Yeah, I couldn't fall asleep and Ryan couldn't either so we just stayed up and talked out by the pool," I said as I coated my eyelashes with mascara.

"How are you doing?" she asked more seriously now.

"I'm actually doing alright, I'm feeling better and it felt good to shower," I laughed. "I guess I just needed an excuse to get out of bed and I needed something exciting in order for that to happen. I hate that this is what it was but it's an adventure and it's making me feel alive," I explained.

"Well I'm glad," she said flipping the mirror back into its proper spot.

"How the hell did you manage to get your eyeliner perfectly even in that tiny ass mirror?" I asked amazed. I swear Hannah was a magician when it came to makeup. She could do her makeup anywhere and I would have been surprised if even if she did it without a mirror, it somehow would still turn out perfectly.

"I've been wearing makeup since the third grade, I was that kid, you learn some tricks," she said laughing.

"I remember that! I was always jealous of your blue eyelids and your bright pink lipstick," I joked.

She rolled her eyes, "I've been a badass since day one, and you know that."

"You bet your blue eyelids and your perfect eyeliner I do," I laughed.

The door to the car swung open and Dallon peeked his head in.

"Are you ladies done with your paint yet?" he asked sarcastically. Hannah shot him a glare and he stepped backwards holding his hands up in defense.

"You ready to go party it up in Vegas bitches?" Pete said clapping his hands as he climbed to the very back seat.

"I think we're ready," I said trying to avoid any conflict.

"Wait where's Patrick?" I asked looking around. We had Pete, Dallon, Ryan and Hannah and I but I didn't see Patrick anywhere.

"I'm here!" he said frantically running out with all our bags. Apparently the other boys are incapable of carrying any bags back to the car and they left Patrick with the whole load.

"Help him!" Hannah demanded. Hannah didn't raise her voice much but when she did she could intimidate anyone. Dallon quickly ran to Patrick and grabbed some of the bags from him. They stuffed them in the trunk and Patrick got into the driver's seat and tried to catch his breath.

"Okay does everyone have all their shit because there is no way I'm going back to that motel," Hannah said looking directly at Pete.

"It was free!" Pete whined.

She scoffed and then looked back at everyone else. "Does everyone have everything?"

"Yes," we all said nodding.

"Alright let's go find that fucker," Ryan said.

Dallon and Pete sat in the way back and I sat by Hannah in the middle, while Ryan sat shot gun. Pete plugged his phone into aux cord and we were forced to listen to Kanye the entire ride. I have nothing against Kanye but I have something against Pete rapping the entire ride.

"Turn here!" Ryan said as he pointed to the left just as Patrick passed the turn he was supposed to take.

"Can you give me some warning next time?" Patrick asked annoyed at Ryan.

"I'm sorry that google maps doesn't give warnings!" Ryan argued back.

"Hey how bout you two stop arguing and Patrick takes the U-turn coming up over here," Hannah leaned up between the two boys. They both agreed and Patrick did exactly as she said.

We drove around in circles probably a totally of twenty times before we finally saw the casino in sight.

"Wow Vegas doesn't look as lit as it does at night," I said. "It's disappointing."

"Well if I know Brendon we'll probably be here for a few days," Dallon said laughing.

"True that," Pete said patting Dallon's shoulder.

"Okay I think we're here," Patrick said.

"Well there are the giant fish statues so I'm going to guess you're right," Ryan said back sarcastically.

After spending thirty minutes or so looking for a parking spot we were on our inside with our bags on our backs. We probably looked like hobos and I had a feeling we were about to get some strange looks.

"Okay before we go in, you need to remember one thing. Act natural and we'll be fine," Pete said lecturing us.

"Yes sir," Hannah said rolling her eyes and walking through the doors.

"Holy fuck," Patrick said when we walked in

"Holy fuck is right," Ryan said.

"Natural," Pete said firmly.

Pete walked up to the front desk and a lady, 23 or 24ish, looked him up and down. She was drop dead gorgeous and from the way Pete was looking at her he agreed.

"Can I help you?" she asked leaning forward a bit.

"Depends, are you the one I come to if I need a room tonight," Pete winked.

"You've got to be 21 to rent a room here kid," she said grinning.

"Oh well good thing I'm 23," he said pulling out his fake ID and sliding it across the counter to her. She picked it up and scanned it and then looked back at Pete studying his features.

"Alright Mr. Branson," she said. She adjusted her shirt making her already low neck line lower. "What kind of room can I get you tonight?"

"What's the most expensive room you've got?"

"We've got our rooftop king suite," she said.

"Sounds perfect, one night in the rooftop king suite for me," he said pulling out his wallet which was stuffed with cash.

"$340," she said typing something on the computer in front of her. He pulled out four $100 bills and gave them to her.

"Oh and here's a little tip," he said handing her another hundred. "I hope I'll be seeing you later tonight." He gave her a wink and she smirked back as she stuffed the extra cash into her shirt.

We got the room key and headed towards the elevator.

"What the hell was that?" I asked laughing at Pete's little act.

"We'll do you really think we would have gotten in here without me turning on the charm?" he said defensively.

We took the elevator to the top floor and I had to catch my breath when we walked into the room.

"Okay so you can afford this but you couldn't afford a night at a normal hotel last night?" Hannah asked throwing her shit on one of the three beds.

The room was huge. There were three king beds each with silk sheets and a large selection of pillows. The walls had paintings that I'm almost positive were authentic and cost more than my house. Dallon went straight into the bathroom and came out grinning from ear to ear.

"There's a mirror and there's a tub bigger than Patrick's minivan in there." Hannah ran in to see and she came out with her face lit up.

"Okay, like I know we're here to find Brendon and all but like can we at least go out and party tonight," Hannah begged.

"Let's look for Brendon and then we'll hit the shops for an outfit appropriate for this type of place," Ryan said. We all agreed on the plan and cleaned ourselves up so we at least looked presentable for finding a boy on the loose.